Chandrababu Naidu accused the BJP of failing Andhra Pradesh again
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said today that he was pained to hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi comparing him with "corrupt politicians" and talking about "petty things" during his reply to the TDPs no confidence motion.
"As a Prime Minister of this country, you should not talk like that. As the Prime Minister, you should not talk about petty things," Mr Naidu told reporters in New Delhi.
PM Modi in his reply to the no confidence motion debate in the Lok Sabha on Friday said that when the TDP pulled out of the NDA, he called Chandrababu Naidu to tell him that he was falling in a trap of his rival YSR Congress.
The Prime Minister also alleged that the TDP was trying to cover up its failures by making false allegations against the centre and the scores of local politics were being settled in Parliament.
The Andhra Pradesh chief minister said such statements were not expected from a person holding the post of Prime Minister.
"He said you are falling in the trap of YSR Congres. I told him as far as I am doing right things, nothing can happen to me and my party. I also asked him how can he compare me with tainted people... YSRCP's leader is going to court every week. We are in Parliament," Mr Naidu said.
The chief minister said PM Modi told him that Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao was more matured than him.
"I said the Prime Minister is not supposed to use such language," Mr Naidu said.
The no confidence motion was moved by Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) which until recently was an NDA constituent but pulled out of the grouping to demand special category status for Andhra Pradesh that was bifurcated and Telangana carved out of it in 2014.
The bifurcation is said to have caused huge financial and resource losses to Andhra as capital Hyderabad and IT city Cyberabad went to Telangana.
Chandrababu Naidu said the "BJP has again betrayed the state... and its five crore people" and PM Modi had failed to keep his own promises.
"After 15 years, first time no-confidence motion was moved by opposition parties. We knew they have majority. But the motion was majority versus morality," he said.
The chief minister said said he was "deeply pained" to hear PM Modi describing Andhra Pradesh''s genuine demand for special category status as TDP's internal fight with YSR Congress in the state.
He said people of Andhra Pradesh were very angry with the BJP and PM Modi because their sentiments were being taken for granted.
"People of Andhra are totally disturbed. People are very angry because of injustice done to them," he said, adding that was what was done to the people of Punjab, Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.
"What happened in Punjab? What happened in Assam? What happened in Jammu and Kashmir? It is only a sentiment. We didn''t deal with it properly," he said.
"You cannot do injustice to our people. But I gave confidence to my people. I told them if you go into destruction mode, agitation mode, we will land up nowhere. At the same time, we will work very hard, we will create wealth but we will fight for our genuine demands. For every problem, there is a political situation," Mr Naidu said.
Chandrababu Naidu said PM Modi and his predecessor Manmohan Singh had promised to the bifurcated Andhra that justice will be done but "it has not been delivered yet".
"You have to keep up the promises you made," the chief minister said.
He said PM Modi misled the House claiming he could not grant the special category status because the 14th Finance Commission barred it from doing so.
He said this has been busted by one of its members, Govind Rao, who pointed out that nowhere in the report it was said that special category status cannot be extended to a state.
"You humiliate us. This is not a correct approach," Chandrababu Naidu said.